


Take Me Under Your Wing

by StarPrince_Punk



Series: My Irondad and Spiderson Fics [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Alternative Universe - Dragon Riders, Did I mention DRAGONS?!, Dragon Rider Peter Parker, Dragon Rider Tony Stark, Dragons, Everyone Rides A Dragon, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Platonic Cuddling, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-02-22 14:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22584004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarPrince_Punk/pseuds/StarPrince_Punk
Summary: In a world where there are cities in the sky and dragons are as common as cars, every person becomes a dragon rider by the age of 16. Most dragons are normal, but some people bond with dragons that have special powers. A group of these dragon riders call themselves the Avengers.On the Winter Solstice, Peter Parker finally gets to meet the dragon that he is bonded to. Little does he know his dragon will be special. So special in fact that he’ll gain the attention of a certain Avenger - the one known for riding the Iron Dragon.(Irondad and Spiderson urban fantasy AU where they’re all dragon riders cuz why not? Do you want to read about Tony teaching Peter how to ride a dragon? Do you want flying-injury-related whump and hurt/comfort? Do you want adorable father-son bonding over their dragons fluff? Do you want a Peter-and-Tony-centric fic with COOL DRAGONS IN IT?? Then this is the fic for you!!)
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: My Irondad and Spiderson Fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1421887
Comments: 117
Kudos: 400





	1. The Winter Solstice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I know you guys want me to write the sequel to [It’s a Secret to Everybody](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18991933/chapters/45097897), but I had this idea and I _had_ to write it lol. I like to write really crazy out-there AUs, so I’m really excited for this story! I’ve even planned it out a little! Ok I hope you enjoy it!!

“Oh my god, Peter, what do you think mine is gonna look like?” Ned rambled on as he and Peter walked side by side to the Winter Solstice ceremony. “You think he’ll be really tall? Like _really_ tall? Or… Or… Maybe he’ll have _golden scales_ !! Broooo wouldn’t that be awesome?! How about gold _and_ silver scales!”

“There’s never been a dragon with gold _or_ silver scales, Ned,” Peter laughed.

“Tony Stark’s has gold scales.”

“That’s cuz Tony Stark _made_ those scales for his dragon! You know that. And besides, they’re not gold, they’re a gold-”

“-Titanium alloy, I know, of course, Peter. I’m just really excited!”

“Me too, dude!” Peter was practically shaking with excitement as they walked down the cobblestone street. Tall, tall buildings of stone and metal sprung up on either side of them. And above them, the sky was completely clear and blue - as it was every day.

Up above the clouds, there were land masses - giant islands - that floated in the sky. And in the surrounding air, soaring through the stratosphere, were dragons. Hundreds - thousands of dragons. They were as common as the birds are to us. But they were much larger than your ordinary pigeon or sparrow. No, they were much larger - large enough for humans to ride them, like how we might ride a horse.

Every human’s soul was bonded to a certain dragon’s. When a human is around 14-16 years old, their dragon will come from skies unknown and meet them on the day of the Winter Solstice. Most dragons were normal - they can fly, they have scales, they have sharp talons, etc. But some dragons were born with (or receive) special powers - like breathing fire, ice, balls of pure energy, and so on.

A group of dragon riders with these special dragons called themselves the Avengers, and it was their goal to protect their large island in the sky - known as the City of Marvels, or Marvel City.

Under the floating islands in the sky, under the opaque cover of white clouds that extend for miles and miles, was what’s called the Below. No one knew what it looked like Below. (No one except for one man.)

And on this day, the Winter Solstice, Peter Parker, - a 15-year-old high school student - will finally get to meet his bonded dragon.

“Bro,” Ned said, his voice now becoming more like a whisper, “what if someone gets a _special_ dragon?”

“Nah, no one’s gonna get a special dragon, Ned. No one’s gotten one in years,” Peter said.

“But what _if_ , dude?”

“Bro, I’m already excited about finally getting my _dragon_ . I don’t care if it’s special or not. I just wanna fly through the air again. I wanna fly so _bad_ , man.”

“Yeah, I get it man,” Ned said back. “I mean after… Yeah, I know what you mean.”

Peter just nodded. Ned was referring to the accident that happened only a year ago - an unfortunate accident that led to the death of Peter’s Uncle Ben, his uncle’s dragon, and his Aunt May’s dragon. Luckily, his Aunt May survived and was able to take care of Peter - as Peter’s parents died long ago. But ever since then, the Parker household didn’t have a dragon to ride. Once the dragon your soul is bonded to dies, you’ll never get another, so Aunt May was left to live without her husband or her dragon partner.

Peter missed riding on his Uncle Ben’s dragon as Ben steered him through the sky. He missed the feeling of the wind against his riding goggles, blowing through the curls of his hair. He missed the freedom of the sky. And with his own dragon, he’d get that freedom back.

Peter and Ned finally arrived in the city square. The large, cobblestone courtyard was in the center of Marvel City. Tall buildings surrounded it, climbing into the clear, blue sky. Streamers, windsocks, and other decorations were hung from the streetlamps to celebrate the special day. At the far end of the square was a huge stone stage, where the ceremony would take place.

“Hey losers.”

Peter and Ned turned around to see their friend MJ, holding a book in her hands. It was titled _The Ethics of Dragon Racing_.

“H-Hey MJ!” Peter managed to say normally despite his rather large crush on her. “What’re you, uh, what’re you doing around here?”

“I’m here to get my dragon? Duh?” MJ looked at Peter like he was an idiot.

He _was_ an idiot. “Right, obviously. It was a joke, y-you know?” He laughed weakly and tried to not run away to the edge of Marvel City and throw himself into the Below.

“MJ! MJ! What if someone gets a special dragon?!” Ned offered his previous topic of conversation to her.

She scoffed. “Sure, okay. Like _that’s_ gonna happen. A special dragon hasn’t appeared in years.”

“But what if??!!” Ned was basically jumping up and down.

“Don’t get your hopes up, man,” MJ said. “You’re just gonna get disappointed once the ceremony starts. Which should be…” she reached into her pocket for her phone, “Any minute now.”

Suddenly, a dark shadow quickly passed over the city square - a dragon. Peter, Ned, MJ, and the hundreds of other citizens surrounding them looked up at the sky. Another shadow zoomed by. Peter squinted his eyes, but the sun made the circling dragons above them just look like dark silhouettes, and he couldn’t recognise them. Were these the new dragons for him and his peers? No, they couldn’t be. They were much too big - they had to be adult dragons. Who could these be?

A dragon turned, and Peter saw the sun glint off its wings. Peter only knew one dragon that had wings that could reflect light like that - the one with metal wings, the Iron Dragon.

“It’s the Avengers!” Someone in the crowd called.

The crowd began to cheer and shout similar things. Peter and Ned cheered, too, while MJ looked back at her book. The Avengers circled lower and lower until finally they touched down on the huge stone stage at the far end of the square.

All of the Avengers were there. There was Tony Stark, the rider of the Iron Dragon - a beautiful, 18-foot-tall, red dragon that he named Arc. Everyone knew the story of how Tony and his dragon were shot down out of the sky by the evil organization known as the Ten Rings. He and his dragon fell below the islands, below the cloud cover - Below. No one goes down to the Below, and those who fall down there don’t survive. Everyone thought Tony was dead, until three months later, he and his dragon returned - but half his dragon’s body had been replaced with shiny, prosthetic metal parts. And in the center of the dragon’s chest was a glowing blue device - which Tony called the Arc reactor, after the dragon’s name. This device was able to not only keep his dragon alive, but it also gave his dragon special powers - like the ability to shoot energy blasts from his mouth. Tony had upgraded and refurbished Arc’s mechanical parts many times since then, and now his metal scales and limbs are shiny gold, contrasting nicely with his red scales.

Then there were the other Avengers. Steve Rogers had a blue-and-red-scaled dragon named Star, named after the white, star-shaped design of scales on her chest. She was special because she was strong and tall. She was around 22 feet tall - around 2 feet taller than the average adult dragon. Plus, she could shoot disc-shaped energy out of her mouth.

Thor Odinson had a silver-gray dragon with red accents named Mjornir. She was 20 feet tall, and in addition to also being very strong, had the power to shoot lightning out of her mouth.

Bruce Banner had a green-scaled dragon that was very, _very_ large - around 25 feet tall. Back when Bruce first got him, he was very small - almost too small to ride. One day there was an accident in Bruce’s laboratory, and his dragon transformed into the largest, strongest dragon known to humankind, earning him the name Hulk.

Natasha Romanoff’s dragon had scales as black as the night covering her entire body, except for a design of red scales on her abdomen that resembled that on the Black Widow spider, which inspired her name of Black Widow. This dragon was 18 feet tall, and she was the fastest dragon in all of Marvel City, as well as being trained very well in close combat with her teeth, talons, and tail.

And lastly, Clint Barton’s dragon was 19 feet tall and had scales of black and dark purple. In addition to being fast like Black Widow, Clint’s dragon could shoot thin, arrow-shaped energy blasts out of his mouth. He never missed, which earned him the name of Hawkeye.

Peter had never seen them all this close before. He turned to Ned, whose jaw was also hanging open in shock.

“I didn’t know the Avengers were coming!” Peter fanboyed.

“Right?!” Ned fanboyed right back with equal measure. “They don’t come every year or anything, right?! Oh my god this is amazing!”

MJ just shook her head and looked back down at the book in her hands.

Once the crowd was settled, Tony Stark walked up to the microphone at the edge of the stage and spoke into it. “Hello everyone!”

The crowd erupted into cheers again.

“My fellow Avengers and I are here because we have been given the honor of hosting today’s Winter Solstice Ceremony! The dragons will soon be arriving from the Unknown Skies, so will all teenagers from ages 14-16 come to the stage, in hopes that a dragon will come for you today.”

Peter didn’t know if he would be able to move if _the_ Tony Stark was up there on the stage. Sure, yeah, he liked all the Avengers, but Tony was his favorite. Tony was the smartest, and he was a genius with technology. Peter also liked to build electronic devices and stuff - nothing on Tony Stark’s level, but Peter was still very inspired by him.

He looked to Ned beside him, who was also frozen in shock. Luckily, MJ was there for them. She rolled her eyes, closed her book, and dragged her two friends by their arms as she began to make her way towards the stage. “Come on, losers.”

Peter was quickly able to use his feet again, although he was still nervous as all hell.

They reached the stage and climbed up the few stone steps onto it, joining dozens of other teenagers. Peter could see other kids from his school - there was Betty Brant, Liz Allen, Cindy Moon, and-

Oh no, he just caught Flash Thompson’s eye. The boy sneered at him, and luckily turned away, focused more on waiting for his dragon than bullying Peter at the moment. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. Flash tormented him every day at school. It was nice to have a break.

More shadows passed from overhead - small ones, more of them.

The crowd gasped, then went very silent. The new dragons were here - it was only polite to give them quiet so they could focus.

Dozens of new dragons circled above the square. Eventually, a few flew down to meet the teenager they felt was bonded in their soul. Then a few more flew down, then more - until the stage was full of technicolored scales.

Peter saw a crimson red dragon pass by him, then bow her head towards MJ. MJ immediately smiled one of her rare smiles and pet the dragon’s head. A pang of jealousy hit him, but it was okay, he reminded himself - he’d have his own dragon very soon.

Not too soon after, a pale blue dragon landed on the stage directly in front of Ned and bowed his head at him. Ned laughed and waved his hands excitedly, then pet his dragon as well.

 _Patience, Parker,_ Peter told himself.

He saw Liz get her dragon. Then saw Cindy and Betty get their dragons. He even saw Flash get his dragon. Where was Peter’s dragon?

Maybe… Maybe he wouldn’t get one this year. He was 15. Usually that was the age most kids got their dragon at, but it was known that some kids didn’t get them until later when they were 16, or even 17 on rare occasions.

But Peter wanted to fly again.

“It seems as though everyone has paired up,” Steve Rogers now spoke into the mic. “There are no more dragons circling in the sky.”

Peter’s heart sank.

“Will everyone please file to the left side of the stage, where you will receive a saddle, harness, and reins for your new dragon,” Steve continued. “Congratulations to everyone who found their dragon partner today! May your journey with your new friend be a long one. Thoses who did not find their partner today, there’s always next year. Please make your way to the right side of the stage.”

Peter dragged his feet as he walked to the right side of the stage.

Well, he thought, at least he got to see Tony Stark and the other Avengers up close. That was pretty cool at least.

Peter joined the small crowd of other disappointed teenagers and waited for his turn to walk down the stairs. Behind him, the stage was quickly clearing of teenagers and dragons as they went to collect their supplies.

Another shadow crossed the ground.

Everyone looked up to see another dragon circling above them.

“Hold up, Cap,” Tony said near the mic. “Looks like we’ve got a late bloomer.”

He touched down on the stone stage. He looked about 8 feet tall, which was small - even for a not-fully-grown dragon. Most of the dragons arriving today were 9-10 feet tall. But luckily, this dragon definitely wasn’t too small to ride. He also had beautiful red scales with blue accents, a thin face with two horns at the top of his head, and large, completely-white eyes. He chirped - as young dragons do - and spun in circles, looking for his human.

Peter felt something tug in his heart. He stepped forward back onto the stage. Normally, he’d be nervous to be the center of such massive attention, but for some reason now he didn’t seem to care. He needed to meet that dragon. Something instinctual in his heart told him that was _his_ dragon.

 _His_ dragon.

Peter’s mouth was curved into a huge, permanent smile. His feet moved faster, as he now ran across the huge stage to his new friend.

The dragon saw Peter and chirped again happily, his eyes forming into crescent shapes. He galloped over to meet Peter, his feet stomping on the stone of the stage floor.

Peter flung his arms around his dragon’s long neck and hugged him. Many people in the crowd said ‘awe’.

Peter and his dragon made their way to the left side of the stage to wait in that line instead. He turned around to look back towards the Avengers and the audience, suddenly very nervous again.

Tony Stark was staring right at him, smiling.

Peter quickly turned back around before his nervousness made him explode.

Peter talked to his dragon and told him everything about himself, as was everyone in line. Dragons were very smart creatures - some people said they’re just as intelligent as humans. While they couldn’t speak in anything else but chirps, screeches, and roars, they could perfectly understand the human tongue when it was spoken to them. They could even read and understand human writing. So Peter rambled on and on, telling his new dragon friend everything he could think of. “My name’s Peter - Peter Parker. My best friends are Ned and MJ - they’re over there. See? You could see them up ahead…”

Peter talked so much it seemed like he wasn’t breathing. His dragon listened, excitedly stomping his feet, his white eyes forming happy crescents.

“-And did you see the Avengers over there?!,” Peter continued. “Do you know them? Do you know their dragons? Are their dragons famous where you come from? Cuz they’re special, you know. They got powers! Do you know about them?”

Peter’s dragon nodded his head.

Peter let out a shaky breath - his dragon _answered_ him. This was really happening. This was so cool! “Really?! Do you have a favorite?”

Peter’s dragon turned around and gestured his head towards the Iron Dragon.

Peter’s eyes lit up. “Me too! Tony Stark and the Iron Dragon or my favorite! They’re so cool!”

Peter’s dragon twisted his neck around to look at Peter again. He continued to smile with his eyes.

While his dragon was turned around in this way, Peter could have a really good look at his wings. “Woah…” He leaned forwards and touched the membrane between each ‘finger’ of the dragon’s wings. “The membrane on your wings is so thin. I can kinda see your veins in it.”

His dragon tilted his head.

“No no no, it looks cool! It looks like… spider-webs!” Peter smiled. “I’m gonna call you Spiderwings. Is that a good name to you?”

His dragon’s eyes smiled with crescents again and nodded.

“Alright! Great! Spiderwings, yeah, I like that name, too. Oh! And I can call you Spidey for short! That’d be so cute!”

Spiderwings turned to completely face Peter again. He stomped his feet excitedly in front of him. Peter laughed.

Soon they were next in line, and workers helped fit a nice, comfortable harness and saddle onto Spiderwings. They then walked back into the city square. Since the main ceremony was over, most of the audience had gone home, but some people still remained to look at the new dragons.

Here in the square, Peter met up with Ned and MJ again.

“Peter! Oh my god!” Ned ran to him excitedly. “I thought you weren’t gonna get a dragon! I was so upset!”

“Me too!” Peter said back.

“I’m so glad you got one, though!” Ned then held his arms out and presented his pale blue dragon. “This is Luke. _Yes_ , I named him after Luke Skywalker, but he agreed to it so it’s fine. I named him that cuz he’s the color of Luke’s lightsaber! Or wait, that lightsaber was originally Anakin’s… Whatever, whatever! I wanted to name him Luke. And _anyway_ , he’s pretty much the coolest dragon here - don’t mean to brag or anything.” He crossed his arms confidently and Luke stood tall behind him.

“Awesome! Nice to meet you, Luke,” Peter said. “Guys, this is Spiderwings,” he gestured to his dragon.

“Brooooo that’s an awesome name!” Ned raved.

“Thanks. Um, how about you, MJ? What's your dragon’s name?”

MJ smiled _again_ \- Peter didn’t know if he’d ever seen her smile twice in the same hour - and looked up at her dragon. “This is Athena.”

“Wow,” Peter said in awe. “S-She’s really beautiful.”

MJ squinted. “And therefore she has value?”

“N-No! I didn’t mean it like that! I only meant-”

“I’m just messing with you,” MJ smirked.

Peter’s brain took a second to understand that everything was fine before breathing a sigh of relief.

“Hey! Penis Parker!”

Peter sighed in relief too soon.

He turned around to see Flash with his dragon - one with black and white scales. “Of course your dragon came late, Parker. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was too dumb to find his way here!” He laughed, and Flash’s dragon gave a screech of his own laughter.

“Shut up, Flash!” Peter said, feeling very defensive. No one would talk like that about Spiderwings.

“And look how small he is!” Flash continued to laugh. “Even for a kid dragon he’s small! Just like you, Penis!”

“I said shut the hell up!”

Spiderwings turned to Peter, a confused look on his face. Peter looked at him sorrowfully and pet his head between his eyes. “Don’t listen to him, Spidey. That’s just Flash. He teases me all the time, but whatever. Just ignore him.”

Spidey stepped back. He snorted through his large nostrils, his eyes squinted angrily. He stomped his feet and ran at Flash’s dragon.

“Wait! Spidey!” Peter called after him. “I-I said don’t listen to him!”

Spidey slashed at Flash’s dragon. Prepared for the attack, his dragon headbutted Spidey and slashed at him back. It turned into an all-out fight. People were starting to surround them - it was very rare to see dragons fight other dragons. And from very close by on the stage, the Avengers couldn’t help but watch, too.

Some workers that were handing out saddles and harnesses rushed over. “What’s going on here?” One asked.

“H-His dragon just randomly attacked mine!” Flash said with as much fake-stammering as he possibly could. “He’s crazy! He needs to be put down!”

“You insulted him first!” Peter tried to defend himself.

Flash’s dragon gave an extra heavy swing of his tail at Spiderwings, clobbering him to the ground in front of Peter. Peter rushed over to him and placed a hand on his side, petting the smooth scales. “Spidey, are you okay? Are you hurt badly?”

Spidey stood up and shook himself off.

“O-Okay, good. Good. Listen, I mean it - don’t worry about Flash-”

Peter was interrupted by Spiderwings growling at Flash’s dragon. He once again ran towards him, and this time was able to bite down hard on the dragon’s shoulder.

Flash’s dragon screeched in pain. It attempted to fight back, but after a few seconds, he fell to the ground - unconscious.

Peter’s jaw dropped.

Dripping from Spiderwings’s mouth was a dark, gooey liquid - Poison.

“O-Oh my god,” Peter covered his mouth.

“What the hell was that?!” Flash shouted as the workers looked over his unconscious dragon. “Is he gonna be okay?”

“It looks like he’ll be fine,” one worker said. “He just needs some antidote and some rest. But… I think if that dragon were to bite a human, they wouldn’t survive.”

Flash’s dragon then woke up - although his movements were still very sluggish. The workers helped them out of the square and to a care center.

Peter just stared blankly at Spidey. “You… You didn’t have to do that.”

Spidey just shrugged, giving off an heir of ‘he deserved it.’

Behind Peter, Ned screamed. “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! PETER HAS A SPECIAL DRAGON!”

“Ned!” Peter looked back at him. “Don’t sound so excited! We could’ve just killed Flash’s dragon!”

“DUDE!” Ned ran up to Peter and grabbed his hands, shaking them frantically with excitement. “He only did it to defend you! Plus, through it we learned that _your dragon has poison powers, Peter!_ Just like a venomous spider! Wow, you really _did_ pick the perfect name, didn’t you?! Oh my god! This is amazing! You have a special dragon! I _knew_ it, man! I _knew_ this would happen, but nooooo none of you wanted to believe me!”

Ned kept fanboying to himself, while Peter tuned him out and looked at Spiderwings.

“I mean… Thanks for defending me, I guess,” he said.

Spiderwings held his head high - proud. His tail swung from side to side.

“But seriously, don’t just do that again, okay? I don’t want you to get in trouble. Don’t do that… unless I tell you to. Deal?”

Spidey thought this over, then nodded.

“Good! Good, okay.” Peter breathed.

Over on the stage, the Avengers just stared.

Tony smiled. He looked up at his dragon, who gave him a knowing look. He looked back at the boy in the city square. “Interesting.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!! I hope the AU isn’t too crazy lol. I hope it was cool to read something kinda different! And the next chapter will definitely feature MUCH more Tony!! This story will be Tony and Peter centric after all.
> 
> If you liked the story, please leave kudos and a nice comment! I love love _love_ to read you guys’ comments on my fics! I’ll try to update soon! Thanks again for reading!!
> 
> I'm also currently doing Febuwhump right now as well so you can check that out [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687609/chapters/54227167)


	2. First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Tony meet for the first time. Their dragons, Spiderwings and Arc, also meet. Two very different first impressions are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so happy that you guys like this AU concept!!!! All your comments were so nice!! I loved them all. Tbh I got the idea for this AU because the new Hearthstone season is all dragon and dragon rider themed and it gave me the idea to write something with that aesthetic lmao. I hope you enjoy more dragon content in this next chapter!

The longer a person is with their dragon, the easier it is for them to understand it despite it not being able to speak. Just through their bond, the human knows their dragon well enough to be able to tell what they are ‘saying’ just by how they grunt, chirp, or move their head. For example, Tony Stark had known his dragon, Arc, for around 30 years, and when Arc grunted and snorted his nostrils as Tony affixed his saddle to him, Tony knew _exactly_ what he was saying.

“ _Yes_ , I’m really going to find that kid today, alright?” Tony answered him. “He’s the first kid to get a special dragon in _years_. I have to see if he could be a potential Avenger.” They were in Tony’s lab - which, yes, was large enough to fit his fully-grown dragon. It had to be, since this is where he constantly built and updated Arc’s metal parts.

Arc snorted again and flapped his mechanical wings. They whirred at their joints.

“No, I’ll find him easily. JARVIS will scan his facial recognition software as we fly across the city. We’ll find him in no time, right JAR?”

“Of course, sir,” the AI voice echoed through the lab.

Arc just stared at Tony, giving him a look. Golden metal scales crawled up the dragon’s neck, contrasting to his natural red scales. The gold scales went all the way up to his wide face, connecting to the mechanical replacement of his left eye, which glowed white. On the very top of his head were two large, curling horns.

“Look, it’s not like we have to spend _time_ with him, alright? I know you don’t like kids just as much as I don’t,” Tony finished fastening Arc’s harness. “I just wanna meet him and see if he has what it takes to be an Avenger. After that, we can… I dunno, hand him off to Nat or Clint or something. They like kids, right?”

Arc huffed and turned his head away. A compromise.

“Alright, you’re all set. JARVIS, open the doors and tell Pepper I’m leaving.”

“On it, sir.”

Tony stepped onto his step stool and hopped onto Arc’s saddle. He pulled his riding goggles down from his forehead and adjusted them over his eyes as the doors to his lab slowly opened by themselves. Tony’s goggles didn’t look like the ones everyone else wore. Instead of two circular lenses, Tony’s goggles had one, rectangular shaped lens that went over both his eyes. Little blue stats and images were able to be projected onto it to show him information.

“Alright Smaug, let’s go,” Tony held onto Arc’s reins.

Arc looked at Tony behind him, snorted again, then ran out of the lab and into the air.

“Oh, c’mon. I know you’re a grouchy old man now, but you’re never too old for nicknames.”

Arc let out a low growl and flapped his wings as he continued to rise into the air.

“Alright, alright, I won’t call you old.”

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Peter was in his room in his and May’s apartment. Spiderwings’s saddle, harness, and reins were in the corner of the room, right next to the computer Peter was in the middle of building. Peter sat on his bed, while Spiderwings chewed on a sheep-shaped squeaky toy. Since Spidey was so young, he was small enough to be able to fit inside their apartment. Adult dragons get too big, so the city had special public spaces just for dragons to sleep and hang out.

“I can’t wait to fly again,” Peter told Spidey. “Are you excited to have me fly you?”

Spidey looked up and nodded at Peter.

“Great! I mean, I hope Ned’s parents won’t mind if I sit in while they teach Ned how to fly. Cuz it’s not like May can teach me.”

Spidey cocked his head to the side. Peter guessed that meant he was asking why.

“You might’ve noticed that my aunt doesn’t have a dragon,” Peter started to answer. “That’s cuz… her dragon died. So did my uncle, and his dragon.”

Spidey blinked at Peter, then dropped his chew toy and walked over to him on the bed. He rested his big head on Peter’s lap.

Peter immediately smiled. “Aw, thanks buddy.” He pet Spidey’s head. “You’re the cutest, you know that?”

Spidey chirped.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Spidey lifted his head and looked at the door to Peter’s room.

“It’s probably a delivery guy, don’t worry,” Peter said. “May will get it.”

Spidey turned back to him and returned his head to his lap. Peter smiled again.

But then they heard footsteps, and soon May opened the door to Peter’s room.

“Peter,” she began to say, “There’s-”

She was interrupted by Spidey running over to her and nudging his face against her legs.

She couldn’t help but laugh and pet him. “Yes, hi Spiderwings! Hello! Anyway, Peter,” she turned to him again, “There’s… _someone_ at the door for you.”

“For me? Who?” Peter asked.

“It’s…” May lowered her voice, “It’s Tony Stark.”

“ _TONY STARK_ IS _HERE_?!”

“Shhhhh!” May quickly shushed him. “He’s in the living room. He’ll hear you.”

Peter clapped his hands over his mouth. Holy mother of dragons - _the_ Tony Stark was in his _living room_!

“He says he’s interested to meet you after finding out that you have a special dragon,” May continued. “Come on. I don’t wanna keep him waiting too long. Let’s go.”

Peter shakily rose to his feet. May left Peter’s doorway and Peter followed her, Spiderwings close behind him.

“Did you hear that Spidey?” Peter whispered to him. “Tony Stark is _here_! He wants to meet us!”

Spidey nodded his head and excitedly stomped his feet as he walked.

They reached the living room, and sure enough, Tony Stark was _right frickin there_. He looked up and spotted Peter. “Oh, Mr. Parker.”

Peter was frozen in shock, but managed to make his mouth move. “H-Hi! Um, Hello, Mr. Stark. I-I’m a huge fan. It’s v-very nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Peter,” Tony walked over to him. “I’m very interested in-”

He was interrupted by Spiderwings running forwards and nudging his face against him, clearly very excited. Tony looked startled at first, but then laughed and pet the dragon’s head.

“I-I’m sorry, sir! He’s really friendly-”

“It’s fine, kid. Most young dragons are like this,” Tony then crouched down and looked closely at Spidey, examining him. “He’s a very healthy fledgling - such shiny scales.”

“Th-Thank you, sir.” Peter stared at Tony in awe. He was examining Spidey with such expertise in his gaze. Peter could almost see the man’s mind working behind his eyes. It was so cool to see him in person.

“What did you name him again?” Tony asked.

“Oh, um, Spiderwings. B-But I call him Spidey for short.”

“Spiderwings - yes, very fitting,” Tony examined the thin membrane of the dragon’s wings. He then looked back at Spidey’s face. “Can you open your mouth for me, Spiderwings? I’d like to examine those special venomous fangs of yours.”

Spidey happily obliged and opened his huge jaw. And - while Peter knew that Spidey would never hurt Tony - he still felt nervous when Tony began to trace his fingers against Spidey’s sharp teeth.

“Fascinating,” Tony looked over at Peter. “I came here to ask you if you’d let me get a look at this guy in my lab. He’s the first special dragon to arrive here in years. We should know all of his capabilities. Don’t worry, it’s all very safe.”

“Your lab?! Th-That would be awesome!” Peter couldn’t help but start fanboying. “I mean, um, yes. I’d like that, M-Mr. Stark.”

“Great. Let’s go.”

“N-Now?!”

“Sure, why not? You don’t have school today, right? Don’t you have the whole week off for Winter Solstice Break?” Tony started walking towards the door.

“I-I mean, yeah, you’re right.” Peter turned to May. “Can I go? Is that okay with you?”

“Of course, honey! Have fun!” May looked so excited for her nephew.

Peter smiled back. “Okay! Great! Spidey, c’mon, let’s go!” He followed Tony out the door, Spidey excitedly running behind him.

When they reached the outside of Peter’s apartment building, they were greeted by the stoic gaze of Arc, who was sitting at the edge of the sidewalk. Peter almost flinched when he saw him. He wasn’t expecting to see Arc out here - he didn’t know why he wouldn’t be though. Tony was here, so of course Arc was here, too.

As soon as Spiderwings saw Arc, he chirped with joy and sprinted over to him. He ran around in circles in front of him, continuing to chirp and chirp. Arc just looked down at the young fledgling with an unimpressed stare. This didn’t deter Spidey’s elation at all however, as he continued to dance wildly in front of him.

Peter laughed, then turned to Tony. “Um, Sp-Spidey told me that he’s a huge fan of Arc. Sorry if it’s-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tony waved his hand. He smiled at his dragon. “Arc’s a hardened old geezer. It’ll do him some good to be around a dragon so young.”

“I wonder how they talk to each other. How do they communicate?” Peter thought out loud.

“Some people theorize that dragons can communicate telepathically,” Tony answered. “While some others think they're just able to understand each other based on their motions and the sounds they make. But personally, I believe in the telepathy theory, even though we’ll never be able to prove it. You can’t look inside someone’s thoughts, after all. Bruce Banner knows quite a lot about neuroscience and yet even he doesn’t know for sure.”

“Woah, that’s awesome,” Peter turned to Tony. This was so cool. He was actually talking to _Tony Stark_. “So, um, I don’t know how to fly yet. How’re we getting to your lab?”

Tony shrugged. “We can walk. It’s not too far, and Arc can use the exercise.”

“O-Okay.”

“Besides,” Tony started to walk down the street. Peter stumbled after him. “I want to get to know the kid who’s bonded to the first special dragon we’ve gotten in years.”

Peter’s face lit up. “O-Okay, Mr. Stark.”

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

_“It seems our humans are leaving,”_ Arc communicated telepathically with the hyper, young fledgling in front of him. He’d only known the dragon for a minute and he was already annoyed. He couldn’t _stand_ fledglings. He stood up and started to follow Tony. _“Are you coming?”_

 _“Yes, Mr. Arc!”_ Spidey ran up from behind him so they could walk side by side. _“It is_ **_so_ ** _cool to be able to meet you, you know! You’re my favorite out of all the Avengers!”_

 _“Yes, as you’ve said multiple times already.”_ Arc groaned and just kept his eyes ahead of him.

 _“I know, I know, I’m sorry, sir! I’m just so excited!”_ Spidey flapped his wings and glided in the air for a moment. That way he could be eye level with Arc, who was much taller than him. _“Is it really true that you’ve been to the Below? What was it like?”_

 _“Don’t ask me that, child,”_ Arc growled. “ _I don’t speak of that.”_

 _“Oh, well that’s okay! I have plenty of other questions!”_ Spidey smiled with his eyes. _“What’s it like to have metal wings? Does it feel different from normal wings? I’d imagine they’re heavier or something. And how about your mechanical eye? How d’you see with that? Wait, does it like, have x-ray vision? Can you see through things? Can you-”_

 _“By the Gods, do you ever_ **_shut up_ ** _?”_ Arc finally graced Spiderwings with his eye contact. He snarled at him, baring his sharp teeth just a bit.

Spidey flinched back, blinking up at Arc with his wide, white eyes. Then he smiled again, _“I got carried away, didn’t I?”_ He let out chirps of laughter. _“Sorry, Mr. Arc. I told you, I’m just so excited to meet you! You’re the coolest!”_

Arc rolled his one non-mechanical eye and snorted his nostrils in annoyance. It seemed that it didn’t matter how disinterested or callous he acted towards this young dragon - Spidey would always respond with smiles and crescent-shaped eyes.

 _“We’re gonna have so much fun at the lab with our humans!”_ Spidey exclaimed. _“I hope me and Petey get to come over a lot. That way, I’ll get to see_ **_you_ ** _more often!”_

 _“Oh yes, and won’t that be splendid?”_ Arc didn’t hide the sarcasm dripping in his tone.

 _“Yeah, it will!”_ Spidey completely disregarded it. _“This is so great! We’re gonna be such good friends, I know it!”_

Arc closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He hoped Tony really meant it when he said that they wouldn’t have to spend time with these _children_ for much longer.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Meanwhile, in front of Spidey and Arc were their humans. Peter rambled on and on to Tony - but unlike Arc, Tony was interested in what Peter had to say.

He noticed he and Peter were surprisingly alike. Peter was fascinated by advanced technology and liked to build things, just like Tony. And by what he said, Peter actually proved to be smart. Tony could tell he knew what he was talking about when it came to science and engineering. It was… _admirable_ , really, that a kid so young knew these things. Tony remembered being a ‘genius kid’ and he recalled how lonely it could be. It was nice to see that Peter seemed happy.

At the same time, Peter was so scared that he was annoying Mr. Stark. Was he talking too much? Or did Tony want him to talk? He said he wanted to get to know him after all. He talked a lot about technology stuff and hoped he didn’t say anything wrong. If he did, Tony would probably think he’s an idiot.

They arrived at Tony’s lab quicker than Peter expected. It really wasn’t far at all from Peter’s apartment. After all, despite Marvel City’s high population, it was a pretty small island. And with Tony’s lab so close by, Peter could walk there whenever he wanted. And once he learned to fly, he could get there even faster.

They entered the lab, and Peter’s jaw dropped. Fancy tech of all types was scattered everywhere, piling up on tables, littering the floor - _everywhere_.

“I-Is that a quanto-energy scanner?!” Peter ran up to a certain machine. “And, oh my god, are those theta-wave coils? Wow, I’ve been trying to use one to make my wifi faster, but I can never get it to work. Oh! And is that…”

Tony crossed his arms and stared in amazement as this kid went full fanboy all over his lab. Usually he didn’t like anyone in here except for himself and Arc, and sometimes Pepper and Rhodey. But this kid… he seemed to crawl his way into Tony’s heart so easily.

The dragons entered the lab after that. Spidey saw Peter running around, so he went to go see what the buzz was about. Arc walked up next to Tony and grunted.

Tony laughed. “Yeah, they both sure are full of energy.”

Arc flicked his tail back and forth.

“Oh, come on, the kid’s not too bad,” Tony said. “He’s really smart. I think he’ll make a great addition to the team.”

Arc rolled his good eye and growled.

“Hey, you be nice to that fledgling now. He’s younger than all the others that came on the Winter Solstice this year. He’s practically a baby. Plus he’s got poison powers, and I don’t need you getting bitten.”

 _Like that child could ever bring himself to attack me,_ Arc thought to himself. But he would admit, Tony was right. The human boy was smart and would be very good for the Avengers. If only his dragon wasn’t so childish and annoying.

Peter then suddenly stopped nerding out over Tony’s tech. He looked over at him. “I-I’m sorry, Mr. Stark. I got carried away.”

“It’s fine, kid,” Tony waved off Peter’s apology. “Trust me, it’s great to have someone who speaks my language around here. Especially since Bruce barely has the time to come over anymore. Now Spiderwings,” he turned to the dragon, “can you hop up onto this table? I’d like to run a full diagnostic on you.”

Spidey chirped and jumped onto the table.

Peter joined them at the table’s side. He watched as Tony scanned Spidey with various devices and attached energy-reader-nodes across his scales. Tony would occasionally ask JARVIS something, and Peter would get startled at the AI’s voice coming from the overhead speakers. He’d have to get used to that.

“It seems venomous fangs are not Spiderwings’ only powers,” Tony said when he finished.

Peter’s eyes lit up. “Really?! What else can he do?”

“I have a few theories, but I can’t tell for sure,” Tony answered. “There's something in the cellular composition of his scales that’s different than a typical dragon. The best way to find out what this could mean would be to spend more time with Spidey and see his powers naturally come out. I’m sure we’ll find out soon. You’ll probably find something out once you start flying lessons with your aunt.”

Peter looked away. “Well, um, actually, my aunt can’t teach me how to fly.”

Tony squinted at him. “What? What d’you mean?”

“She uh, she doesn’t have a dragon. Her dragon… passed away.”

Tony’s face fell. “Oh wow, I’m sorry to hear that. To lose you life-bonded dragon, I… I can’t imagine that.”

“Yeah, it’s been hard, but she’s getting through it,” Peter tried to not sound awkward. “I don’t really know who’s gonna teach me to fly, though. I’m gonna ask my friend’s parents if they’ll teach me at the same time that they teach my friend, but I don’t wanna be a bother to them. Cuz you know, teaching a kid to ride their dragon is usually a family thing. So, I-I don’t wanna intrude on that for them.”

Tony stared at Peter. A thought was going through his mind that he didn’t understand - he should teach Peter how to fly his dragon.

Had he ever taught a person to ride a dragon before? No. Was he good with kids? No. Why did his brain think this was a good idea? He didn’t know.

God, this kid. He really didn’t understand. How had this kid wormed his way into Tony’s heart so fast? He’d only known him for a few hours.

“I could teach you,” Tony said nonchalantly, like his mind wasn’t fighting a war inside him about whether or not he should actually do this.

Peter’s eyes widened. “You’d… You’d do that?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” Tony shrugged.

“I-I… I’d be honored, Mr. Stark! Really! Wow, that would be amazing! A-And, well, I mean, you don’t have to teach me if you don’t want to-”

“Of course I want to,” Tony said - although the chaos in his brain questioned that. “It’s very likely you might become an Avenger in the future, Peter. Who better to teach you to fly than an Avenger?”

Peter grinned like a maniac. “Wow, you really think I might be an Avenger one day, Mr. Stark?”

“With a dragon like yours? Definitely.” Tony then turned away and started taking off the nodes he’d placed on Spiderwings’s body.

Peter was practically shaking with excitement. Tony Stark was gonna teach him how to fly! He might be an _Avenger_!

But soon, Tony words truly registered in Peter’s brain - _‘With a dragon like yours? Definitely.’_ \- Was Tony only interested in Peter’s dragon? Maybe he didn’t really care about Peter at all and just wanted another special dragon added to the Avengers lineup. What if he was just using Peter to be able to gain access to Spidey’s powers?

Peter shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that now. He could worry and second guess everything later. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy the moment with Tony in his lab.

Meanwhile, Tony was fighting the strong instinct in his brain telling him to put his hand on Peter’s shoulder.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo it’s kinda hard to write Tony and Peter in this early stage of their father-son relationship lol. Cuz I barely ever write it. I usually write irondad fics where Tony and Peter have known each other already and bonded for like at least a year. Don’t worry, I’ll make them get to know each other fast so we can get to that quality father-son fluff!  
> Also as an artist ([you can see my art here](https://www.instagram.com/StarPrince.Art/)) I honestly really want to draw Peter and Tony with their dragons!! But I don’t know if I’ll have the time. Hopefully I get the chance to though. If I do manage to draw them I’ll post it on my Tumblr and my insta and here in this fic.  
> I hope you liked this chapter! Leave kudos and comments if you did! I love reading your comments so much!!
> 
> (Also I’m currently posting irondad spiderson one shots for febuwhump if anyone wants to check that out too. You can find those [right here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687609/chapters/54227167))


	3. Flying Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony takes Peter on his first flying lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven’t posted in sooooo long!! I’m in college majoring in animation and lemme tell you, 2D hand-drawn animation takes a long time lmao. I didn’t have much time to write. But the semester’s over and I’m back now! Thank you for all the nice comments!! They really encouraged me to keep writing this fic! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

“JARVIS, what’s it like out there today?”

“Clear skies, sir. The air temperature is 59 degrees Fahrenheit, which is fairly warm for the Winter. This is little to no fog in the air. Wind conditions are moderate, with wind speeds forecast to rest up to 15 miles per hour.”

Tony let out a satisfied sigh. “Perfect conditions for flying, don’tcha think?”

“Quite, sir,” JARVIS responded from the lab’s ceiling. “Speaking of flying, Mr. Parker is scheduled to arrive in 30 minutes.”

Nervousness bubbled inside Tony, but he tried his best to ignore it. Sure, he was nervous, but he was also _excited_ \- excited to see that bright kid learn to fly. Tony wanted to see the look on his face when he felt the wind in his hair, especially since he knew Peter hadn’t experienced that feeling in a long time.

“You know what,” Tony put down the wrench he was holding and stood up from his desk, “You think the kid would care if we picked him up early?”

Beside him, Arc breathed out with a huff.

“Oh come on. Think about it like this - the sooner we go over there and teach him, the sooner you get this over with.”

Arc looked away.

Tony chuckled. “I’ll go get your saddle.”

It only took Tony 10 minutes to reach Peter’s apartment and knock on his door, with Arc waiting patiently outside.

Peter was surprised when Tony showed up at his door 20 minutes earlier than they had planned to meet up, especially since Peter thought that _he_ was the one that was supposed to meet Tony at his lab, but he didn’t mind - not at all. He was _super_ excited for his first flying lesson with _Tony freaking Stark_.

When he answered the door, he saw Tony in full dragonrider’s gear - dark jeans tucked into brown leather riding boots, a white shirt slightly unbuttoned at the top, a brown leather jacket, and his rectangular-shaped riding goggles secured on his forehead. Peter wore a similar outfit, although his riding goggles were the more common kind, with a circle for each lens. Plus, they kept slipping down onto his eyes - they were Ben’s, so they were a bit too big.

With their dragons walking behind them, they walked away from Peter’s apartment building. “I was thinking we could fly near the Northern Cliffs,” Tony said.

Peter looked hesitant. “Aren’t the winds always stronger on the north side of the island? Most people learn how to fly on the southern side.”

“Exactly, so the southern skies will be crowded with inexperienced kids attempting to keep a steady glide,” Tony countered. “Northern skies will be empty. And besides, the winds aren’t predicted to reach any speeds above 15 mph today.”

Peter felt anxious, not only to fly, but he also didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of Tony Stark. But he followed Tony to the Northern Cliffs anyway.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊ _[[Do you want some fitting music to listen to in the background of this next scene? Open this link in a new tab](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhXoJKoUuXE&list=PLx2ZsloK5cbxzdiM5HscF-3Rn6RxKNvju&index=2&t=0s)] _⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Peter didn’t know what ‘only 15 mph’ winds were supposed to feel like, but he felt like the winds at the top of the Northern Cliffs felt much faster than that.

Their dragons were in front of them, standing at the very edge of the cliffs. There wasn’t a single other dragon in the sky in front of them. Beside Peter, Tony took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of the breeze. “You smell the salt in the air?”

“Salt?”

“The wind is blowing from the East,” Tony pointed in the direction of what supposedly must’ve been East, but it’s not like Peter could tell that sort of thing without a compass. “East of here is the island known as Asgard. There are saltwater waterfalls that flow off the edge of it. The wind is carrying the scent here from there.”

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why does the water have salt in it?” 

“It’s what’s called an ocean.”

“An ocean?”

“Yeah. Huge body of water full of salt. We don’t have one on our island.” Tony then felt around his jeans pockets until he finally retrieved a small object - an electronic device on a keychain sort of thing. “Before I forget,” he started walking over to their dragons, “let’s attach this to Spidey’s saddle.”

“What’s that?” Peter asked.

“Tracking device I made,” Tony hooked it onto the front of Spidey’s saddle. “Just in case something happens and you get lost. This is your first time flying by yourself, after all.”

Peter thought it was a bit unnecessary, but he just shrugged. Maybe Tony was just paranoid after he fell into the Below.

Tony clapped his hand together. “Alright! Let’s get in the air!” He walked over to Arc, who crouched down to let Tony onto his saddle. Tony slung his leg across him.

Meanwhile, Peter was trying to get onto Spiderwings, but Spidey was so excited to fly with Peter that he kept moving around. Peter giggled. “Spidey! Stay still! We can’t fly together if you don’t let me on you.”

Spidey managed to settle down, but as Peter slung his leg across his saddle he was still squirming a bit.

“You buckled in?” Tony called over to him over the sound of the wind.

Peter buckled the safety harnesses on his saddle. “Yep!”

“Good! Let’s fly!” Tony pulled his goggles down from his forehead and over his eyes. Under him, Arc stood up and pawed at the ground, preparing for liftoff.

“Remember, kid!” Tony kept shouting to Peter over the wind. “Your dragon knows how to fly already! You gotta trust him!”

Arc flapped his large, mechanical wings. The dust around them lifted into the air and swirled around them.

“You’re only job is to help guide him with the reins!”

Arc charged towards the edge of the cliff, his feet pounding against the ground.

“And to keep your balance!”

Tony’s last shout of instructions became quieter and quieter as Arc took off into the sky and flew away, the wind becoming louder than his voice.

Peter just stared ahead, suddenly much more nervous than he was before.

Spidey twisted his neck around to look at him, concerned. Peter gave him a pat on the head. “C’mon, Spiderwings,” Peter afixed his oversized goggles over his eyes, “we can do this. It’s just like Mr. Stark said - I trust you.”

Spidey smiled and charged towards the cliff.

Peter tensed and clung tightly to Spidey’s reins, his knuckles white.

Spidey leaped into the air, but didn’t spread his wings out right away. He let himself fall the length of the Northern Cliffs.

And Peter screamed.

Spidey let out a couple chirps of laughter, then spread his wings out. Peter felt the whiplash of suddenly changing from moving vertically to moving horizontally. Inertia made his chest crash against Spidey’s back, forcing Peter to look straight down at the cloud cover below them. He gulped. Had the island always been this high up? It seemed less scary when his feet were firmly planted on the ground.

His left foot slipped against its stirrup. Peter quickly put it back and stared ahead.

He heard the distant sound of Tony’s laughter getting louder. Arc had circled around and flown back to them. Tony pulled gently on his reins and he stopped to hover in the air, flapping his wings to stay airborne. “Looks like your dragon’s a little prankster.”

“Yeah, looks like it!” Peter said, not bothering to hide the panic in his voice as Spidey zoomed past Arc. “How- How do I get him to s _tooopppppp!!_ ”

Spidey had begun to soar upwards at speeds Peter didn’t know he was capable of. Spidey made a gleeful little sound while Peter began to scream again.

Tony stared at them, Peter’s panicked shrieks getting quieter as he and Spidey ascended into the sky. He laughed and shook his head, rubbing his temple. “We got our work cut out for us, don’t we buddy?”

Arc snorted. He flapped his wings harder and began to follow the fledgling and his boy.

Around forty feet in the air above them, Peter was desperately trying to get Spiderwings to calm down. “Spidey! I understand that you’ve flown before and this is all normal to you, but this is _not_ normal for me! Can you please just- Spidey what are you- _Ahh!!_ ”

Peter was cut off by his own scream as Spidey started moving even more vertically upwards, so much so that Peter was slipping off his saddle. Both his feet fell out of their stirrups. He threw his arms around Spidey’s neck in a frantic last-ditch attempt to not fall off him.

Spidey flipped upside down, doing a loop-de-loop in the air.

Peter slipped completely off his saddle. He hung from Spidey’s neck.

“Oh _shit_ ,” Tony cursed under his breath. Arc must’ve been thinking the same thing because he growled. He flapped his wings and tried to fly even faster to that _idiotic, immature fledgeling_.

When Spidey stopped looping and flew straight forward once again, Peter landed safely back on his saddle. He blinked, then looked at his hands, trying to register what had just happened.

Spidey flew over to Arc, who had now caught up to him. _“Mr. Arc! Mr. Arc!”_ He said to Arc telepathically, _“Did you see the trick I did? I think Petey liked it? Did you-”_

 _“_ **_Enough_ ** _, child!”_ Arc growled his response, and Spiderwings stopped rambling. _“This is your human's first time flying! You were making him scared! Humans aren’t covered in scales like us. They are small and fragile and easily breakable!”_

_“But, but Mr. Arc-”_

_“You can’t put your human in danger like that again!”_

Spidey’s eyes looked remorseful. He didn’t want Arc to be mad at him. He was just trying to have fun. _“I didn’t mean to put Petey in danger. I thought he’d be fine because he’d just stick to me.”_

_“He’d what?”_

Meanwhile, Tony was having his own conversation with Peter. “You okay there, kiddo? Looks like Spiderwings was really excited.”

“Yeah…” Peter was still processing what had happened. “Yeah, I’m… I’m good.”

“You sure, Pete? You don’t look good.”

“When I grabbed onto Spidey’s neck, I thought I was gonna slip off,” Peter said. “I don’t have the upper body strength to hold myself up like that. But… But something weird happened. I didn’t slip at all. I didn’t even have to hold on tight. It was like…” Peter’s eyes lit up. “It was like I was stuck to Spidey’s scales.”

“Stuck?” Tony repeated.

“Yeah, like… like how a _spider_ sticks to a wall!” Peter then smiled. He looked down at Spidey. He pat his head. “I really _did_ name you perfectly, huh boy?”

Spidey looked up at him and smiled, happy to be pet. He looked back at Arc. _“See? Everything’s fine, Mr. Arc!”_

 _“Now that it’s over, perhaps,”_ Arc replied. _“But before, he kept screaming.”_

_“Yeah, screaming cuz he was having fun!”_

_“No, child, that’s-”_ Arc sighed. _“Just exercise more caution in the future when flying with your human, please.”_

 _“Okay, okay, sure, yeah,”_ Spidey smiled, his pure white eyes going into their signature crescent shapes. _“I’ll be careful! I promise!”_

“Have you had enough flying for the day? Tony asked Peter. “We can go back to the island now, if you want.”

Peter thought about it. “I dunno. I was scared before, but now… I think I’m good now. I wanna keep flying.”

Tony smiled. “Good, good. Now that Spidey’s got all his energy out, let’s see if you can start mastering the basics.”

“Okay, Mr. Stark!” Peter adjusted his goggles on his face.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Peter and Tony had been flying almost all afternoon. When the sky started turning yellow-orange with the setting sun, Tony decided to end their flying lesson for the day. They flew back to Tony’s lab.

Tony landed on the ground first, Arc touching down on the worn grass of his backyard. “JAR, open the doors,” he said as he slid off of Arc and took off his goggles. The giant, metal doors beside him began to open, revealing the inside of his lab.

Tony looked back up in the sky to see Peter hovering with Spiderwings above him. “Slowly pull back on the reins to guide Spidey to the ground!” He called up to him. “He’ll know how to land by himself! Maintain your balance in the way that I taught you!”

Tony saw Peter pull at Spidey’s reins, then lean forward to tell his dragon something that Tony couldn’t hear - probably telling him to _please_ land now. Tony chuckled. The young fledgeling had so much energy.

Spidey soon landed on the ground with an innocent smile. On top of him, a very alarmed Peter tried to not get knocked off his saddle or faceplant onto the ground. When he caught his balance, he shakily hopped off Spidey and onto the ground. “ _Woah_ , it feels weird to stand.”

“Yeah, it takes a minute to get used to being back on solid ground,” Tony walked over to him. “Why don’t we sit down in the lab? I wanted to take a look at those goggles of yours.”

“Sure, okay.” Peter followed Tony as he made his way into the lab.

Spidey ran up to Arc as they followed their humans inside. _“That was so much fun! I love flying with Petey! Didn’t we do such a good job, Mr. Arc?”_

Arc huffed. _“I suppose after your rather chaotic start, you performed… adequately.”_

Spidey let out a giddy squeal. _“Thank you! I’m so glad we’re friends!”_

_“I’m not your friend, child.”_

_“Yeah, yeah, sure,”_ Spidey chirped with laughter.

Inside the lab, Peter gave Tony his goggles, then sat on a stool near Tony’s desk. Tony felt the goggles’ stretchy strap in his hands. “Can I shorten your goggles’ strap for you? I notice they keep slipping off your eyes.”

“Yeah, that’s cuz they were my uncle’s goggles before me,” Peter said. “But yeah, sure, you can shorten it a bit. It would be nice if they fit me better.”

Tony got a few tools out and went to work on Peter’ big, round goggles. While Peter waited, he picked up a small device on Tony’s desk and began to fidget with it. It looked kind of like a thermometer, but i didn’t look like it read temperature. Peter turned the device over in his hands, trying to decipher what it was.

It didn’t take long until Tony finished his work. “Here, try these on.”

Peter took his goggles back from Tony’s outstretched hand. He slipped them on. They securely stuck to his face. Peter smiled, “Much better! Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“No problem, kiddo.” Tony noticed the device in Peter’s hands. “You know what that is?”

“Uh, this?” Peter held up the device. “Um, no. I was trying to figure out what it did.”

“It detects if there’s too much stored ionic charge in Arc’s wings.” Tony walked over to Peter and held out his hand. Peter gave him the device. Tony then walked over to Arc nearby and plugged the device into a small socket in Arc’s mechanical wing. “I usually check that sort of thing after he’s flown for a while. His wings might overheat if there’s too much ionic buildup in it.”

The device beeped, and Tony removed it from its socket. “Looks like everything’s fine,” Tony said as he read its blinking numbers.

“Woah, cool,” Peter stared with wide eyes. “Was it hard to build Arc’s wings? And his mechanical eye? And his… half his body?”

Tony’s gaze went soft at the boy’s excited tone. “That’s a long story,” was all he said in response.

That just piqued Peter’s curiosity even more. He bounced in his seat. “What do you mean?! What story?!”

“Maybe I’ll tell you one day, kiddo.” Tony walked back over to his desk. As he passed by Peter, he unconsciously reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair. Peter laughed.

Tony almost froze, realizing what he was doing, but played it off like it was nothing. In the back of his head, he couldn’t help but wonder how the hell he’d gotten so comfortable around this kid already. In fact, he felt like he wanted to spend even more time with him.

“You said you liked building stuff too, right?” Tony asked.

“Me? Um, yeah,” Peter smiled shyly. “I’m… I’m just a beginner, though.”

“I’m sure you’re better than you think,” Tony said. “How about you come help me in the lab every once in a while? You can be my… apprentice.”

“A-Apprentice?” Peter’s eyes went wide.

“Yeah, sure. You basically already are, aren’t you? Since I’m teaching you to fly and all. So how about it? You wanna help me in the lab?”

“Yeah! Of course!” Peter beamed at Tony. If Tony was offering this, then maybe that meant he _actually_ enjoyed Peter’s company. Maybe this meant that Tony didn’t just put up with Peter since he had a special dragon. _Apprentice_. Peter liked the sound of that. “Thank you, Mr. Stark!”

“Don’t mention it, kid,” Tony smiled back.

A few feet away, Spidey ran up to Arc, who was now lying on the ground. _“Did you hear that, Mr. Arc?! Petey’s gonna help out Mr. Stark in the lab! That means I’ll get to see you even more!”_

Arc groaned and rolled over to his other side. _“Great. Just fantastic.”_

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know how long this fic will be. It won’t be as long as long as [It’s a Secret to Everybody](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18991933/chapters/45097897), but not super short either. Maybe 10 chapters? Anyway, I hope you liked this new chapter!! Thank you for reading! And as always I love your kudos and comments so feel free to leave them! Sorry again for taking so long to update this fic. Thank you all for sticking with me and continuing to read it!
> 
> Edit: [@iwritedumbshit on Tumblr has made some amazing fanart of this chapter!! Click here to see it!](https://iwritedumbshit.tumblr.com/post/621652611311009792/love-starprincepunks-take-me-under-your-wing)

**Author's Note:**

> [Here's my Tumblr](https://starprincepunk.tumblr.com) and [my art Tumblr](https://starprince-art.tumblr.com) if you're interested. And if you wanna read my other Irondad and Spiderson fics while you wait for this one to update, they’re all [right here!](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1421887)


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